Teachers work 50 hours a week, 15 more than required by law

Teachers work an average of more than 50 hours a week, 15 hours more than the legal limit, on tasks such as class preparation, supporting struggling students, test correction, and bureaucratic tasks.

Teachers’ working hours are 35 hours per week, but according to preliminary data from a survey conducted by Fenprof between September and October 2023.

On average, they work 15 hours more per week than they are legally required to do, and to complete all tasks they have to steal time “from their personal lives,” Vitor Godinho, a representative of the Fenprof union, told Luse.

Many of the hours they devote to students and schools are unpaid, “this is voluntary work,” the union leader criticized, noting that the situation has worsened in recent years.

If in 2017 teachers worked on average 47 hours a week, now they work three and a half hours a week.

The survey, which Lusa had access to, shows that teachers spend an average of 16 hours and 35 minutes teaching and another 18 hours on tasks such as preparing lessons and conducting student assessments.

The two components come close to reaching the statutory weekly schedule of 35 hours, but teachers have many other tasks to complete, a union leader warned.

Schools have jobs that range from teaching positions to student support, administrative tasks, meetings, filling in for absent colleagues or supporting students in the classroom.

On average, teachers spend 15 hours and 45 minutes on the “non-teaching component of the institution,” according to the survey.

For teachers in classroom leadership positions or department coordinators, the study shows that they significantly exceed the hours allocated to them for this purpose.

Class teachers are given two hours to complete this work, but research shows that on average they spend four hours and 18 minutes.

Vitor Godinho believes that the reality is even more alarming, since these teachers must hold meetings with colleagues, be ready to solve student problems and receive parents, respond and send emails to those in charge of education, in addition to other missions such as conducting our survey of student absences “one at a time among all students in all subjects.”

Another problem is the excessive bureaucratic workload, which takes up more than four hours a week.

Currently, “teachers spend one more hour a week on bureaucratic tasks than they do supporting their students,” lamented a union leader.

According to the study, student support amounts to almost three hours a week, indicating a “severe situation of overwork” and many tasks having to be completed during unaccounted hours.

So Fenprof has a number of measures he wants to implement, including limiting the number of students and assigned classes, as well as redefining what constitutes a teaching and non-teaching component.